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The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. For over three generations, the Academy has connected millions of people to great poetry through programs such as National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world; Poets.org, the Academy’s popular website; American Poets, a biannual literary journal; and an annual series of poetry readings and special events. Since its founding, the Academy has awarded more money to poets than any other organization.

Massachusetts

In the fall of 2014, Danielle Legros Georges was chosen as the second poet laureate of Boston, Massachusetts. The author of The Dear Remote Nearness of You (Barrow Street Press, 2016) and Maroon (Curbstone Books, 2001), she is a professor at Lesley University.

In March 2015, Patrick Donnelly was named the seventh poet laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts. Donnelly, who is a poet, translator, editor, and teacher, is also director of The Frost Place’s Poetry Seminar. He is the author of Nocturnes of the Brothel of Ruin (Four Way Books, 2012) and The Charge (Ausable Press, 2003). He will serve a two-year term.

In March 2015, Jan Schreiber was named the second poet laureate of Brookline, Massachusetts, taking over for Judith Steinbergh. He will serve a two-year term.

poems

The old South Boston Aquarium stands
in a Sahara of snow now. Its broken windows are boarded.
The bronze weathervane cod has lost half its scales.
The airy tanks are dry.
Once my nose crawled like a snail on the glass;
my hand tingled
to burst the bubbles

There is a movie called "She's Gotta Have It."
There is a blizzard in Massachusetts today.
Twenty-one people died in Chicago last night.
Two of my friends live there,
but I have never wanted to live there
because it is cold there and people die
from the cold and the wind and from each other.
There is a movie

I've been meaning to tell
you how the sky is pink
here sometimes like the roof
of a mouth that's about to chomp
down on the crooked steel teeth
of the city,
I remember the desperate
things we did
and that I stumble
down sidewalks listening
to the buzz of street lamps
at dusk and the